AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Blue Jays Reach .500, Snap Indians’ Streak at 8

It has been a tough struggle for the Toronto Blue Jays merely to reach the .500 mark this season. Without Pat Hentgen and Joe Carter, it would be a lot tougher for the winners of the last two World Series.

Hentgen’s pitching and Carter’s hitting Friday night at Toronto enabled the Blue Jays to end Cleveland’s eight-game winning streak, 2-0, and improve their record to 20-20.

Carter, who leads the majors in runs batted in with 51, drove in the two runs with his 13th home run after a two-out double by Paul Molitor in the first inning.

Hentgen (6-3) gave up only four hits, struck out eight and walked one in pitching his second shutout this month. He had to be sharp because the Indians’ Charles Nagy (3-3) was brilliant after the first inning. He went the distance, striking out nine.

New York 5, Baltimore 1--On a night when many American League hitters were on a rampage, Jim Abbott turned in another sparkling pitching performance at New York.

Abbott (5-2) held the Orioles to six hits in seven-plus innings and enabled the Yankees to extend their lead in the East to 1 1/2 games over Boston.

Randy Velarde was the star as the Yankees scored all their runs in the fourth inning. Velarde hit his first home run of the season, a three-run blast.

The Yankees’ Paul O’Neill walked twice and singled twice to raise his major league-leading average to an amazing .465.

Detroit 10, Milwaukee 4--Tony Phillips and Lou Whitaker put on a hitting clinic at Detroit to send the Brewers to their ninth defeat in a row.

The top two guys in the batting order delivered a one-two punch. Between them they had eight hits in nine at-bats, scored six runs and drove in five runs.

Phillips, the leadoff hitter, made the only out. But he had a double and his fifth home run, scored four runs and drove in two.

Whitaker hit his eighth home run and was four for four.

John Doherty (5-3) got the victory.

Chicago 13, Oakland 6--Darrin Jackson had four hits, including his sixth home run, and drove in five runs to lead the White Sox rout of the Athletics.